Sunday, January 03, 2010

Imprecatory Prayers

I'm not a big fan of religion, and the concept of an imprecatory prayer -- an invocation of evil -- is the exact type of poisonous bullshit that has driven me away. It doesn't fit with my idea of spirituality and enlightenment. Pray, if you're going to pray, for all people, even your enemies, to be well, happy, and peaceful. If they are well, happy, and peaceful, then, you know, they won't be your enemies any more.

When Rush Limbaugh was hospitalized last week, many blogs quickly responded with hate-filled comments. During his radio career, Limbaugh has sowed many seeds of hate. Crooks and Liars notes some of Limbaugh's most vile diatribes towards sick and dying individuals, and also reminds us about the wingnuts who had their own imprecatory prayers for President Obama.

So it doesn't surprise me from a quick glance at Twitter that many people wanted Limbaugh to die. A few would have preferred that he recovered, walked out of the hospital, and then got run over by a bus. Of course, there is always a place for dark humor, but I think the ideal happy ending would have had Limbaugh transformed by his near-death experience, realize his errors, repent for his sins, and devote his life towards helping the downtrodden.

Obnoxious-jerk-becomes-a-better-person is a way better storyline than obnoxious-jerk-drops-dead. I've always been a sucker for stories like A Christmas Carol and Groundhog's Day.

But that's not the way it's going to be for Limbaugh. He is using his experience to conclude that America doesn't need health-care reform. Of course, he fails to mention that Hawaii, where he was hospitalized, has already instituted many of the reforms that are needed for the rest of the country. Also, nobody has ever claimed that multi-millionaires like Limbaugh have any trouble getting health-care.

But the biggest lie that Limbaugh is promoting is that this entire fight over health-care reform is because there is something wrong with our medical professionals, our technology, our facilities, or our ability to treat the ill. That is not the reason for the battle. The reality is that the uninsured do not have the same access to quality health-care. They might get the same emergency room care as Limbaugh, but the long-term care isn't going to be there or it will bankrupt them.

But Limbaugh will remain callous towards the plight of others. So I wish that he be well, happy, and peaceful, but should he suddenly take a turn for the worse, then Thursday's precondolences still stand: oh well.